The announcement that we have reached a multi-year agreement with Red Bull Technology for the supply of our gearboxes and hydraulics from 2011 is obviously a massive step forward for us, both in engineering terms, and as an expression of our ambitions for next year and for future championships.

The gearbox / hydraulics package obviously plays a critical role in the performance of the car, not just on track but in design and packaging terms, and this deal gives our design and aero teams a very exciting platform to work with.

The removal of the double diffusers in 2011 will allow the whole grid to tighten up the rear bodywork and mechanical structures around the gearbox, and this supply deal will allow us to capitalise on that with our 2011 car. Exciting times lie ahead!Mike Gascoyne

Team principal Tony Fernandes described the deal as “a real statement of our intention to challenge for Formula One honours as soon as we can”.

Gearbox and hydraulic reliability has been a persistent problem for Lotus this year, contributing to many of their drivers’ nine racing-ending mechanical failures.

I don’t think so. Remember how virgin have limited their budget and it really is logical to go with the cosworth. They may see if they can get a decent deal on the williams hydraulics and gearbox though

This is refering to the new rules for the 2011 year. It is indicated that while the double diffusers have been removed, teams are going to have some freedom of sorts in terms of development of that area.

Add to that the double diffuser is a relatively large piece of aero for a small area of the body.

RBR’s usage of a pull-rod setup allows for tighter, cleaner aero packaging. However, that suspension setup meant that it was harder for the team to incorporate a double diffuser setup last year given the packaging limitations. Newey only managed to get the double diffuser incorporated properly on the RB6. Just compare how slim the rear of the RB5/6 is compared to its rivals.

With double diffusers set to go away next year, I think it’s likely that Lotus will adopt a similar pull-rod suspension to RBR (if they use the same gearbox casing as RBR) for better aero efficiency. Wouldn’t be surprised if they incorporate a similar exhaust-blown diffuser too.

Nice link, Craig Scarborough explains it really good and in detail there.

From what he writes, this is a really good sttep forward for Lotus to develop their team in years to come. Now they set the design plan and let RB technology work it out and integrate it into the hydraulics and in the future they can get more and more involved in doing it themselves. Sounds good.

The Renault engine is noted for its better cooling, allowing Red Bull and Renault to run very tight, streamlined rear ends. I would assume that now they are using the same engine/gearbox, they will be looking to do the same.

I actually expect Lotus to be much better than that next year, i foresee them battling with the likes of Williams, Force India and Sauber to be honest, and unless Toro Rosso do something very special, they will be the ones that Virgin and HRT do battle with.

Well, Virgin anyhow. I don’t expect much from HRT since they’ve done no development of this year’s car, and parted ways with the designers of this year’s car as well. Who knows though, maybe they’ll find the money to buy the Toyota design and make some changes to comply with 2011 spec. If they can do that, then Torro Rosso and Virgin will probably be at the back of the pack. That should make for some pretty competitive racing between Williams, Sauber, Force India, Lotus, and the theoretical Toyota designed HRT.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Virgin pull a deal with Ferrari or Mercedes for engines/gearbox. Ferrari think the new teams are clowns anyways, and are pretty confident that they will not be a threat. HRT might be stuck with Cosworth, but then again HRT dont look like they might even be able to put a car up for next year. Honestly, I wouldn’t miss HRT on the grid next year.

No chance??? Mate, it isn’t impossible to conceive that Virgin or HRT might just design a fairly good car next year? I predict that next year we will definitely see the Virgin’s pushing towards the STR’s and Force India’s. They will be less than a second away, that’s my bet, and hopefully the HRT’s can start to push up to that marker too.

Doubt it. I dont think you can design a car within a second of established team such as Toro Rosso and Force India, without a windtunnel. So that leaves Virgin out. HRT are a joke and for them to be within four seconds of Force India would be an achievement. Lotus look like the only team that can give Force India, Toro Rosso and Williams a hard time.

Nope, Red Bull are doing this because they are set up as a “development house” that sells to racing teams – to facilitate the Torro Rosso customer car arrangement. Now that TR have to build their own, there’s spare capacity that Red Bull might as well start selling. TR aren’t filling the job of driver development anyway, despite what Buemi seems to be hoping.

It won’t hurt them to sell to backmarker or midfield teams, because their speed advantage is given to them by the very very expensive investments in aero genius.

I think it is very possible, Red Bull I believe are establishing ties with as many teams as possible in order to funnel off the excess drivers created by the Red Bull young driver programme, to give them race time before switching them over to Torro Rosso and then onto Red Bull.

And it won’t be a patch rather a feature in the 2011 game as the deal won’t actually commence until 2011.

Sorry, but I doubt this will see Ricciardo race. It’s more likely that Lotus will use the Red Bull equipment because it’s already tailor-made to work with the Renault engine. Even if Red Bull pushed Lotus to take Ricciardo as a part of the deal, Renault would still have more power over Lotus. Therefore, it stands to reason that if any driver is going to join Lotus as a part of a tech deal, it will be a Renault driver.

One thing that springs to mind is KERS. Renault seem to be pretty much into using it next year, so they will want to optimise their drive train for that.
Red Bull might stay with their sceptical view of KERS and do the car and gearbox etc without, making it a better package for Lotus who will also not be using KERS (quite some guesses in that, but it sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?)

Simply because Renault Enstone (chassis) is now a completely separate comapny from Viry (engine), so they would have to negociate a separate supply with Enstone anyway. On top of it, RBT already has experience and resources to provide a second team with some components, and a few engineers at Lotus already know the RBT gearbox (e.g. Elliot Dason-Barber)

Next season has good potential for Lotus, this year has been poor performance wise, comparable to Force India’s first season under that guise, and once Force India got themselves a top engine – Mercedes – and tech help from Mclaren they were able to haul themselves into the points, and then to be an established midfield team. I really hope this similar approach by Lotus Racing, soon to be Team Lotus once again, pays off and they score points next year. :)

Super Aguri had Honda supplying them with engines and year old chassis. They didn’t design and build a car from scratch – the closest it got was the hacked around Arrows chassis which Super Aguri used in its first year.

Atleast Lotus team looks serious in its endeavours.
Neither Virgin nor HRT has given any indications of next year’s plan.
I think the reason why Richard Branson is in F1 is because he wants to publicize his Virgin airlines and other products. He doesnt seem to keen on making progress or continuing in this sport.

Xtrac have been around since the mid-80’s. As RFB says they supply components for the majority of teams and have done across motorsport for years. The difference this year is they were supplying the whole transmission package to the Cosworth powered teams except Williams. Not sure there is anything dodgy or a specfic Mosley link. http://www.xtrac.com/#